The Huntress

by Michelle O'Leary

  "All right," he finally said and watched a bitter smile twist her lips.

  "I thought that would motivate you. A couple of things before I go. You have a fair chunk of credit to your new name—Stone was good at his job. You can probably go pretty much anywhere you like in the galaxy. I would recommend not staying here so close to Hunter Headquarters and Uncle Mike. And before you go, I ask that you please say goodbye to Regan. She's …" Her voice trailed off and she looked away into the crowd.

  He watched the lights flicker in her eyes and felt his stomach slowly tighten.

  She cleared her throat, but when she spoke again, her voice was husky. "She'll miss you."

  Her eyes came back to him, studying his face again with an intensity that gripped him like a vice. "Do you really think you're better off alone?"

  He should have been able to answer that with an unqualified yes, without hesitation and without doubt. But mesmerized by the green depths of her eyes, he could say nothing. Those eyes searched his for a long moment before they drifted down to focus on his mouth. He stopped breathing. Leaning closer, she raised a hand and drew one finger across his bottom lip, trailing fire with that touch. An answering fire flared in his groin.

  "Goodbye, Stone."

  He was reaching out for her involuntarily when she turned and walked away. He stared at the space where she'd been for a long minute, taking deep, careful breaths. Breathing wasn't working so he grabbed his drink and downed it in one long swallow, then waved impatiently for the bartender to give him another. He drained that one, too, and then waited while heat like acid spread through his stomach. Confused and aroused, he stared at the bottom of his empty glass and tried to figure out what the hell had just happened.

  Regan looked around, disoriented. The tracer on her nose made shadows of people, and Stone's trace was badly broken in this place. She wasn't experienced enough to understand what she was seeing and track him in a crowd, so she took it off. Blinded by the bright lights, she blinked owlishly. She would just have to find him and Mea the old-fashioned way and search the bar. Just as soon as her eyes adjusted.

  She was about to move forward to start hunting when someone grabbed her shoulder in a crushing grip. She looked up with a yip of surprised pain. The man holding her was huge and wore a shirt that read End Game on the front. He sneered down at her menacingly.

  "We don't let street rats in here, kid."

  "You have about two seconds to let that child go." Mea eased out of the crowd and came at the man, eyes narrow and dangerous.

  He took his hand away, but didn't budge otherwise. "She yours?"

  "Yes."

  Regan felt a burst of happiness at that even through the bruising of her shoulder.

  "We don't let her age in here."

  "We're leaving."

  Mea turned Regan around and propelled her out of the door into the blinding sunlight. Regan resisted the forward motion as best she could.

  "But Mea—"

  "Don't push your luck, child."

  "Is he in there? I have to see him!"

  Mea pulled her into the narrow space between two buildings, holding her by the shoulders firmly, expression grim.

  "Young lady, I told you to stay put. Do you have any idea how much danger you put yourself in?"

  "I couldn't just sit there. I need to see him and you said you weren't bringing him back."

  "Do you know what that guy could've done to you?"

  Regan grimaced and rotated her shoulder gingerly. "Yeah, smoosh me into a new shape."

  Mea sighed and let her go, running an exasperated hand through her dark hair.

  "All right, let me see." She gently pulled Regan's shirt over the point of her shoulder. There were red marks in the shape of fingers on her pale skin. With a frown, Mea soothed the marks, and Regan watched her wistfully.

  "Please, Mea. Is he in there?"

  "He's sitting at the bar." She straightened, cupping Regan's chin in one hand. "I know you love him. I know you want be with him, but if we push him now, he'll disappear. We have to let him chose."

  "Shouldn't we fight for what we want?"

  Mea smiled in a way that made Regan want to smile back.

  "Ordinarily, yes. But he doesn't trust me. He thinks I'm plotting to use him in some way, and I think the only reason he's still on this planet is you. He won't believe he's free unless we leave him alone."

  "Use him? For what?"

  The woman sighed and rubbed a hand over her eyes wearily. Regan moved closer to her, upset that she looked so defeated.

  "Hell if I know. Like I said, he's not ready."

  "I'm sorry I followed you."

  Regan slipped her arms around Mea's waist and hugged her. The woman held her, rocking gently and Regan fought the urge to cry again. They stood that way for a minute or two until Mea stiffened. Regan lifted her head to see her looking into the street. There was a group standing there, four men surrounding a shorter, cloaked figure. The figure in the middle turned to one side, and Regan could see the pale face of a young woman. She looked scared.

  "You've got to be kidding me," Mea muttered under her breath.

  "What?"

  "They look like slavers."

  With a jerk of surprise, Regan looked again. The men were all wearing hard brown leather jerkins like it was some kind of uniform and when she looked closer, Regan could have sworn that she saw a chain between the woman's bare feet. Slavery was against the law, but some of the distant colonies still tried to practice it. Frequently, they made raids on other colonies to take the inhabitants as slaves. Regan had never seen them before, but she guessed Mea had.

  The woman in the center seemed to be pleading. They couldn't hear her, but the men's voices were louder. They seemed not to notice the pair between the buildings, but the shadow there was probably providing enough cover.

  "Shut your mouth, bitch. I didn't say you could talk."

  "Maybe this ain't such a good idea, Deck. There's hunters all over the place."

  "Are you kiddin'?" The man speaking sneered.

  Regan had never heard his accent before.

  "Hunters don't come down to these parts. They're too good for this kinda place. 'Sides, we need the credit."

  They turned away and the rest of the conversation was muted. Regan looked up at Mea's grim features and could almost feel the anger vibrating off of her.

  "Not on my damn planet," she muttered between clenched teeth, and then looked down at Regan. "If I go take care of this, will you stay put this time?"

  "What do you mean, take care of it? There's four of them!"

  "That's not the problem—you are. I can't go out there if I think you'll just put yourself in danger again."

  "But Mea—"

  "Did you see the terror on that woman's face? I can't turn my back on her. It's my job to protect people like her, but I have to protect you, too."

  Regan shifted uneasily. She wanted to help the slave, but there were so many men. "I don't want you to get hurt."

  "I won't if I don't have to worry about you. Will I have to worry?"

  A sudden idea popped into her head, and Regan pulled her chin down so that Mea wouldn't read it on her face. "No. I'll stay here."

  "Good girl." She ran a gentle hand down Regan's cheek as she turned away.

  The group had moved out of their line of sight.

  "Be careful!" Regan whispered frantically after her, and Mea threw a wink over her shoulder. Inching closer to the opening, she watched Mea saunter toward the group.

  "You've got some mighty big balls, boys. Or maybe you're just plain stupid."

  They turned to look at her and Regan slid out of cover, shifting slowly toward the entrance to the bar. Mea still had her back to her and didn't notice. The leader was scowling, but the others eyed Mea appreciatively. None of them looked worried.

  "Who the hell are you?"

  "I overheard you say hunters never come to these parts. Guess what?"

  Their faces hardened sw
iftly, but none of them ran away. Regan ducked into the bar before the fight began. Dashing madly through the crowd, she made an erratic path toward the bar, ignoring the occasional holler from irritated adults.

  And there he was, sitting at the bar like Mea had said, a wide space around him. Using the bar as a break, she crashed up next to Stone. He glanced down, not looking the least bit surprised to see her. Breathless, she grabbed his arm and tugged.

  "She's in trouble!" Then she had to scramble out of the way as he jerked to his feet, spinning without pause to make a beeline for the exit.

  Chapter 12

  Stone had almost been expecting the kid, so when she burst out of the crowd at him, he didn't react until she spoke. Up and moving before he even realized it, he scowled at his own immediate response to the thought of Mea in danger. After fighting so hard to stay put, it aggravated the hell out of him to know he was going after her anyway.

  As they neared the door, a large bouncer caught sight of Regan scrambling behind him. "Hey! I thought I told you—"

  "Just leaving!" she chirped and shoved at Stone to move him out the door faster.

  Once outside, he could see the fight. Mea had already put two of them out of commission and was working on the other two. Stone stopped, disgusted. Regan pushed past him, trying to move toward Mea, but he caught her by the collar and tugged her back. "I thought you said she was in trouble."

  Regan seemed to finally see the scene in front of her and slumped in his grasp.

  "Forgot about the moonbase, huh?"

  She grimaced and pulled on an earlobe.

  "Holy shit!" The bouncer had followed them out and was staring at the scene incredulously.

  Mea had finished one more off and was working on the last one.

  Stone shoved Regan to one side out of the entranceway and leaned against the wall to watch, muttering to himself in irritation. He couldn't just leave the kid and go back inside, not with the bouncer there. So he'd have to wait until the damned woman was done and could take Regan back to the ship. What the hell did she get into a fight for in the first place?

  He could see a cloaked figure huddled over one of the fallen forms. The woman was wailing. Just as Mea put the last one on the ground, the woman jumped up and jabbed at the hunter with a weapon. Already twisted from her previous move, Mea had to arch herself off balance to avoid the blow, grabbing the other woman's wrist. They went down together, but only Mea regained her feet.

  Stone stiffened as he saw the way she held herself. The woman huddled at her feet must have gotten in a lucky wound.

  Lovely face in uncompromising lines, she looked over at their little group.

  "You, bouncer. Go contact Hunter HQ and tell them to get a transport down here." She glanced down at the moaning bundle at her feet. "And tell them to bring a psych representative."

  The bouncer ducked back inside, and Mea turned her head to look at Regan without expression. She said nothing for a long moment, just stood in the middle of a pile of bodies, pressing her left elbow furtively against her side. He couldn't see any blood yet.

  "Stone, I have a request. If they see her when they show up, they'll take her to Child Security. Would you take her home?"

  He nodded.

  "Thank you."

  "How bad is it?" he questioned and then bit back a curse. He'd been trying not to ask.

  Mea's eyes flickered to Regan before she looked down at the woman stirring on the ground, shifting subtly so that her wounded side was out of their line of sight.

  "Bad enough," she muttered in disgust, and Stone figured that was probably true if she was trying to hide it from Regan. The kid was too busy looking sorry to notice.

  Taking her by the back of the neck, he pulled her away before she did catch on. Without a backward glance, he marched her back toward the port. Not too long after they left Mea, they heard the hum of a transport, and Regan looked up into the late afternoon sky.

  "Did she look really mad?" she asked in a tiny voice.

  "She didn't look happy."

  Her eyes fell and Stone shook his head in exasperation. "Told her you'd stay put, didn't you?"

  "Yeah," she whispered, "but I thought she'd get hurt."

  He kept his mouth shut on that one.

  Warren was pacing outside the ship when they arrived, two technicians trailing after him. He was cursing and yelling at them, but they didn't seem to notice. "Get off me! You've picked through my memory core, what more do you want?" He caught sight of them and stopped abruptly. "Oh, thank god! Where the hell have you been, Regan? And why isn't Mea wearing her transceiver?" He waved an annoyed hand distractedly as one technician took advantage of his stillness to run a scanner over him.

  Stone was all set to ignore him when Regan broke away to approach the android. She took his arm and led him toward the ramp. When the technicians tried to follow, she raised an imperious little hand at them. "You two, go home."

  Wonder where she got that attitude, Stone thought, hiding a grin. The two techs looked at each other, but then moved forward again. Stone shifted enough to catch their eye. "You heard her," he muttered in a low, threatening tone, and they spun on their heels instantly, scurrying away.

  "Sorry, Warren. I forgot I was supposed to baby-sit you." Regan patted the android on the arm sympathetically, and Stone followed them up the ramp, amused.

  "Are you all right? Where's Mea?"

  "She had to take care of some slavers."

  "Slavers? You've got to be kidding me."

  "That's what she said when she saw them."

  "I'll bet she did. They've got to be out of their minds to drop into the heart of hunter territory."

  They wandered down the corridor to the mess hall. Something smelled really good, and Stone realized that he hadn't eaten all day, just had two drinks that did nothing but give him a nasty headache and a bad taste in his mouth.

  "She told them they either had big balls or they were just plain stupid."

  Warren put back his head and laughed without restraint at the kid's words. Stone had to shift him bodily out of the way to get to the warmer and pull out what smelled so damned good. Looking at it didn't help to identify what it was, but with a shrug he turned and set it on the table. If it smelled that good, it probably tasted okay, too. He'd had worse.

  Regan was already pulling plates and utensils out of a receptacle, so he got the cups and what he thought might be iced tea. They sat down and dug in, Regan eating almost as intently as Stone.

  Warren sat across from them and watched with a little smirk. "I'd take it as a complement to my cooking if I didn't know you two eat about as regularly as Mea. Who, by the way, hasn't eaten yet today as far as I know."

  Stone ignored him.

  "Why the hell didn't she take her transceiver?" Neither answered him and with a sigh, the android got up and left the mess.

  The two of them finished eating and then cleaned up together in a companionable silence. Pouring each of them another cup of brown liquid, Stone led the way back down the corridor and out the hatch. They settled on the ramp, backs against the ship, and watched the sun slowly set.

  Amazing, Stone thought to himself, what you don't know you've missed until it's right there in front of your face. It had been years since he'd seen a sunset. His shades made it different from what he remembered, but it was still a hell'va sight. He pulled the goggles off when the sun dropped below the horizon, enjoying the flare of colors even though it hurt his eyes.

  "So," Regan began, and Stone almost smiled at her too casual tone. She'd been shooting him looks since they'd came outside and he was surprised she'd waited this long before starting in. "What is it you don't like about us?"

  "What makes you think I don't like you?"

  "You leave," she said starkly, not looking at him.

  He winced. Leave it to the kid to go straight for the jugular. "I like you, kid. You just need a family, and I'm not it."

  She opened her mouth to speak, but then a shadow passe
d across her face, and she shut it again. Studying him out of the corner of her eye, she turned the cup slowly back and forth between her fingers. "You don't like Mea, though."

  He refused to answer that one. She was quiet for a beat or two, but he knew she wasn't done.

  "I don't get that. She likes you and she's not afraid of you like Katie was. She's pretty and smart and you've got a lot in common–"

  "You sellin' her?"

  She frowned at him. "I'm serious! What don't you like about her?"

  "Look, kid, there's all kinds of guys out there willing to take the bait. I'm just not one of 'em."

  "It's not bait!"

  Now she was upset. The force of it was like a pressure on his skin, and he looked away into the growing twilight, uncomfortable. What the hell did he know about talking to kids? He couldn't even remember the last time he'd seen one.

  "So if you don't like her and you don't want to be with me, why are you still here?"

  He weighed his options. Telling her the truth might upset her more, but if he didn't tell her she wasn't going to shut up about this. Besides, she was bound to find out sooner or later.

  "She was hurt."

  "What!"

  Okay, maybe that wasn't such a good idea. Regan looked like he'd just stabbed her in the chest.

  "I don't think it was too bad," he lied. "She was still standing when we left."

  Something about that wasn't right either, because she started crying and tucked her chin down. With a grimace, he placed a hand on the back of her neck, thinking when he did how small and crushable she felt.

  "Hell, kid, she's a hunter. She can handle it."

  "Then why are you worried?" she asked in a smeared little voice.

  He took his hand back, rubbing his neck uneasily. "Who said I was worried?"

  "You said you're still here because she was hurt—" She suddenly raised her head, sniffling, but tears forgotten. There was a light dawning behind her eyes. "If you're worried about her, doesn't that mean you like her?"

  Stone could handle killers in the dark. He'd hunted murderers without breaking a sweat in darkness so deep you could almost feel it between your fingers. He was not used to this kind of ambush. Shifting against the ship, he rallied. "I'm still here because I don't trust that android to keep a lock on you. If she doesn't make it back, somebody's gotta keep a watch on you."